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In the run-up to next year's general election, the Government has published its last White Paper on education. Chris Waterman considers its merits Your child, your schools, our future: Building a 21st century schools system is the Government's last children's White Paper written before the general election. 12With a maximum of 11 months to go before the next general election, the White Paper attempts to set out Labour's achievements of the past 12 years, and tie-up some of the initiatives that the Government has been developing since the last election. The paper runs to 100 pages, but is still pretty short on detail. It has all the hallmarks of a paper written by many different hands – without time, presumably, for a final edit to smooth out some of the contradictory messages. With the Apprenticeship, Skills, Learning and Children Bill failing to complete its passage through the Lords before the recess, the reaction from headteachers that another piece of legislation is definitely not needed is understandable, but the Government seems determined to bring a new Bill in at the end of the autumn. The main points of each of the chapters and the two ‘guarantees' are set out in the diagram below. One of the unresolved tensions at the heart of the Government's children's services policy is the role of the local authority. The local council will have ‘a role of real, strategic significance' in commissioning high-quality school places and in promoting effective partnership arrangements, and ‘are now clearly responsible for ensuring that schools are effectively challenged and supported to improve'. All very well, but how does this sit with schools ‘being empowered to identify the resources they will invest in school improvement and professional development'? Ofsted will raise the bar once again, and there will be legislation to make clear that ‘schools have responsibilities for children across the area'. With pupils and parents encouraged to make sure that schools and local authorities deliver their guarantees, we must hope it doesn't turn into one more bureaucratic paper chase. We are promised wide consultation in the autumn ‘both through existing channels and through a range of forums [for] professionals… children, young people and parents themselves'. Let's at least hope for a very wide response from the providers and the customers. Chris Waterman is editor of Children's Services Weekly

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CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE

Any lessons to learn in the last paper?

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